Cadillac offers more details on Oz-bound Lyriq
BY PETER BARNWELL | 19th Jul 2024
CADILLAC global vehicle performance manager for crossover electric vehicles Marcey White is a mechanical engineer with 27 years at General Motors and currently leads a team of engineers responsible for ensuring the products of the US luxury brand’s push into electrification meet customer performance expectations.
She played a key role in developing the electric Lyriq SUV that will launch in Australia before the end of this year – the first electric Cadillac and the brand’s first model to be officially shipped to these shores in factory right-hand drive as part of an all-electric global export push.
“In my 27-year career I have worked on almost every platform that GM has had to offer. And then this is actually my first Cadillac,” enthused Ms White during a videoconference with Australian media.
On the performance front, Ms White said that the Cadillac driving experience was paramount to customers and that noise, vibration and harshness aspects, as well as the “sound experience” offered by the car were of critical importance to GM engineers.
“There are about 25 to 30 engineers in what we call ‘performance integration’. This team ensures that the entirety of the driving experience meets every Cadillac customer’s expectation in every way,” she said.
Cadillac’s efforts to this end appear to have been successful; overseas reviews have been unanimously positive about the Lyriq’s comfort-oriented driving experience marking a return to the brand’s traditional values of luxury transport with a uniquely American flavour.
“All the imperfections in the road, we’ve tuned out. Cabin comfort, how the vehicle responds to your steering input and what you experience when you plug in your electric Lyriq to charge … those are predominantly what my team works on,” said Ms White.
“So, I can personally promise you that the Lyriq does not cut any corners in terms of performance or disappoint. It is the Ultium battery platform along with the all-wheel drive system that offers the feeling of balance, agility and great control.”
Ms White said primary drive in the Lyriq AWD (coming to Australia and New Zealand) is to the rear axle with secondary drive to the front.
The model rides on multi-link suspension combined with “precisely” engineered tyres and wheels that work together to deliver what Ms White describes as “outstanding” ride and handling.
Ms White explained that Cadillac’s testing and validation program that assesses vehicles in all temperatures and while they’re hot or cold, the former of critical importance to Australian customers, and the latter to battery performance.
“We conduct extensive testing for all aspects of the performance and durability of every system tested at extreme temperatures hot and cold from tyres, brakes, battery, windshield wipers, everything,” she stressed.
“Our Lyriq engineers have been all over the globe to perform extensive testing for the various road and climate conditions to ensure performance meets our requirements.”
Testing has even been carried out in the southern hemisphere at Milford Proving Grounds in New Zealand where chassis control systems were under the microscope as well as brakes, traction control and stability.
Refinement was also a big focus for Ms White and her colleagues.
She said sound attenuation is further addressed via noise cancelling technology which mitigates undesirable frequencies by countering these with tones generated by the vehicle’s audio system.
“To achieve the quiet experience that Cadillac customers have come to expect there are several noise cancelling elements including Cadillac’s next-generation active noise cancellation system, which actively monitors road inputs and uses Lyriq’s 19-speaker sound system to mitigate the road-induced noise and from the EV drive unit,” she detailed.
“This system actually helps get rid of that resonance inside the cabin completely.”
At the same time, Cadillac has followed other car-makers in producing synthetic sounds to help increase driver engagement, which will be augmented with signature exterior sounds to ensure bystanders know a Cadillac is coming.
“We also work very hard on what you don’t hear, which is important in a Cadillac," she said.
“What you feel when you’re braking when you’re accelerating, what you don’t feel when you're coasting.
“Lyriq improves on GMs existing EV technologies such as our one-pedal drive, which in an industry first provides a regen’ on demand pressure sensitive pedal meaning a broad variable regen’ on demand,” she continued.
“When you squeeze the pedal, it’s not just on or off, it’s variable from minimum to maximum. The vehicle can achieve approximately 0.35G of deceleration without any friction and brake assistance.
“All of our Ultium based EVs include the Ultium energy recovery system, which recovers heat produced by the battery, power electronics and other propulsion components,” Ms White added.
“All of the components share the same heating and cooling loop working as one efficient system that can also capture humidity from the inside and outside of the vehicle including body heat from passengers.
“The energy recovery system can then use this excess heat for many purposes to reduce the need to use total power or any other kind of electrical power.
“I am very excited that very soon our customers in Australia and New Zealand will be able to make up excuses intentionally forgetting something at the grocery store just so they can get back in the Lyriq and to be the envy of their neighbours,” she concluded.
